History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 26

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698

USA > Illinois > Madison County > History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches > Part 26

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Test. JOHN HAY. ETNE PENSONEAU.

Recorded September 19, 1815.

JOSIAS RANDALL, C. C. C. M. C.

" Know all men by these presents that I, Samuel Gillham, for, and in consideration of the sum of $500 to me in hand paid, I do by the-e presents sign over all my right, title, interest, and demand of, in and to the within bill of sale, and also before the signing of these presents deliver one negro woman named Frankey and one negro girl named Fancy unto David Nix, for him, the said David, to hold according to law as given under my hand and seal this 8th day of October, 1816. Test.

SAMUEL GILLHAM (Seal).

Uel Whiteside."

Illinois Territory, Madison County, this day personally came the above named Samuel Gillham and acknowledged his signature to the above to be his voluntary act and deed, and for the purpose above stated as given under my hand and scal this Sth day of October, 1816. UEL WHITESIDE, J.P., (Seal).

The early newspapers contain interesting advertisements in reference to runaway negroes. The following is taken from the Louisiana Gazette, published at St. Louis :

FORTY DOLLARS REWARD.

Ran away from the subscriber, on the 27th of May, a negro man named George, about 40 years old, six feet, or upwards, high, coarse features, large board and whiskers,

speaks plain and with assurance, has a large vacancy be- tweeu his tore teeth, but not with the loss of a tooth, yellow complexion, sorrily elothed, having none but those on him, viz. : A big coat of jeans, dyed brown, the under part of the sleeves a drab color. The publie are hereby cautioned against dealing, or harboring him at their peril.

The above reward will be paid to any person who shall deliver the aforesaid negro to me, at Mr. John McDow's, six miles from St. Louis, near the Six Mile Prairie, Illinois Territory.

JOHN HUMPHRIES.

June 25, 1811.

In 1819, in the same journal, appears an advertisement in which a reward of $100 is offered for a negro named Jim, who ran away from Chariton, Howard County, Mi souri Territory. Ile is described as being five feet, eight inches in height, well-featured, weighing one hundred and sixty- five pounds, and being " middling black." Ile took with him a dog and gun. A reward of $100 will be paid, by Charles Simmons, to any person seenring said negro in any jail, if taken without the territory of Missouri, and $35 if taken within said territory."

In the Edwardsville Spectator, 1823, an advertisement offers for sale " An indentured negro man, twenty-three years of age with twenty-three years to serve, well-acquainted with farming, a pretty good rough shoemaker, has attended at a distillery, and possesses a good moral character."

The Madison Association to oppose the introduction of slavery in Illinois was formed at Edwardsville on the 28th of June, 1823. The officers were : Curtis Blakeman, president, William Otwell and Benjamin Spencer, vice presidents ; Thomas Lippincott, secretary, and David Prickett, record- ing secretary. An address was drafted by Thomas Lippincott. Among other members appear the names of George Churchill, Amos Squire, John C. Riggin, George Smith, Charles Gear, Benjamin Stedman, Jarrot Duggar, William P. McKee, John T. Lusk, John Barber, and Thomas S. Sloeum.

The following is an advertisement in the Edwardsville Spectator of the 27th of July, 1833 :

SHERIFF'S NOTICE.

There was committed to my care July 17, 1833, Primes, a black man, a runaway servant, aged about thirty-five years, five feet, eight or ten inches high, stout made. He acknowledged himself to be the property of a Mr. William Poke, of Ilardeman County, Tennessee, near Bolivar. The attention of the owner is directed to this notice, and the law under which the prisoner was taken up, which makes it my duty to sell the prisoner in six weeks from this date unless the right to the property is established according to law.

NATHANIEL BUCHMASTER, Sheriff of Madison County.

REMARKABLE SEASONS AND CHANGES OF WEATHER.

In the winter of 1805 occurred what was known, for years afterward, as " the cold Friday." The weather suddenly became intensely cold, and caused the day to be long remen- bered by the early settlers.

The summer of 1818 was unusually sickly near the banks

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

of the Mississippi river. The Missouri river that year rose to an extraordinary height.

This summer was also remarkable for the frequent thun- der, which sometimes came out of a clear sky. Many a day distant rumblings were heard, while not a cloud could be scen.

In the spring of 1820, the rainfalls were extremely heavy. All low and wet places were covered with water. During the hot months, a sickly, disagreeable effluvia filled the at- mosphere, and in the following fall there was considerable sickness. Many of the wheat fields that year were affected with what was termed " sick-wheat." Persons who ate bread made from it became sick with nausea. If a piece of the bread were thrown to a dog, he might snatch it, but would immediately drop it. Neither cattle, or swine, would cat the grain, and some farmers burned their stacks into the fields, deeming the harvest utterly worthless.

Great sickness prevailed in 1819, 1820, and 1821. The summer of 1820 was very hot; for weeks in succession the thermometer at St. Louis marking ninety six degrees in the shade. The fevers of that year were peculiarly malig- nant, rapid, and unmanageable. In the summer of 1821, the sickness was very general, but in a milder form.

The winter of 1820-21 was very severe, with considerable snow. Two men were found dead on the prairie, chilled to death by the cold. The spring and summer of 1821 were very wet, and the crops were not up to their usual standard. A great deal of the wheat was not worth reaping.

A violent storm in June, 1821, swept over a part of the country, destroying gardens, corn crops and killing chick- ens. The storm came from the northwest, and its track was three or four miles in width. The hail, which accom- panied it, ranged in size from a musket ball to a hen's egg, and broke all the windows on the side of the buildings from which the storm came, in Edwardsville.

A heavy frost occurred on the twentieth of May, 1822. On the twenty-first of September of the next year, a severe frost cut all the green corn blades, but the subsequent weather was dry, so that the corn ripened well, and was good for the next year's planting.

The year 1824 was very wet. Heavy rains fell frequently. Corn on flat lands was a total failure. This year the weavel destroyed the wheat after it was harvested. The next year, 1825, there was a remarkable growth of thistles on the branch bottoms. The winter of 1830-31 was known as the " winter of the deep snow." The snow was of a depth of from two and a half to three feet, on a level. It drifted much, and was very destructive to peach trees. The weather was intensely cold. Both in 1381 and 1832, the early frosts so injured the corn as to entirely destroy its germinating properties, and render it worthless for almost any purpose. All the seed corn, immediately after those years, had to be procured from the counties further south. During the sum- mer of 1831, there was frost every month except July.

A peculiar change in the weather happened in the early part of 1836. Six inches of snow which had fallen on a Saturday, the weather growing warmer, by Monday morn- ing had melted into slush. It became suddenly cold, and

in an hour the slush was frozen hard, and converted into one solid mass of ice. William Beving hal started to ride to a neighbor's when the change came, and finished his journey of two miles with great difficulty. On reaching his destina- tion, he found his horse's tail as big as a barrel, and his legs as thick as a man's body, from the accumulation of frozen slush.

Some of the old settlers who survived till recent years, thought more rain fell in early days than was the case later. The creeks were seldom dry, and fish were usually plenty. There was also commonly a difficulty about planting crops on account of the long, wet spring. It is likely, however, that the difference results from the clearing away of the timber, which has tended to drain the land quicker, so that with the usual rain-fall, fields can be worked earlier now in the spring, than was possible forty or fifty years ago. It is said also that long drouths in the fall were not of so fre- quent occurrence, and that there were fewer frosts.

From 1853 to 1861 peach trees blossomed as follows : 1853, April 12; 1854, April 9; 1855, April 19; 1856, April 27; 1857, May 8; 1858, April 3; 1850, April 10; 1860, April 7, and 1861, on the 15th of April.

On the 5th of April, 1857, there was a heavy snow storm, and the next morning the thermometer was eighteen degrees above zero.

EARTIIQUAKE OF 1811.

An earthquake occurred on the night of the sixteenth of November, 1811, and occasioned great excitement, and some dread among the people. The centre of violence was near New Madrid, Missouri, but the whole valley of the Missis- sippi seems to have been affected by the agitation. In the American Bottom, many chimneys were thrown down. The walls of the brick house of Samuel Judy were cracked. The shaking caused the church bell in Cahokia to sound. Gov. Reynolds relates that his parents and the children were all sleeping in a log cabin, at the foot of the bluff, when the shock came. His father leaped from the bed, crying aloud, " The Indians are on the house." The battle of Tippecanoe had recently been fought, and it was supposed the Indians would attack the settlements. " We laughed at the mistake of my father, " says Gov. Reynolds, " but soon found out it was worse than Indians. Not one in the family knew at that time it was an earthquake. The next morning another shock made us acquainted with it, so we decided it was an earthquake. The cattle came running home, bellowing with fear, and all animals were terribly alarmed on the oc- casion. Our house cracked and quivered so, we were fearful it would fall to the ground. It is said a shock of an earth- quake was felt in Kaskaskia in 1804, but I did not perceive it. The shocks continued for years in Illinois." The earth- quakes in the latter part of the year 1811, and the begin- ning of 1812, alarmed some people to the greatest possible extent, and very many persons, who had never thought be- fore of being religious, joined the church, and began to pray, thinking the end of all things was at hand. Some of these remained true to their newly-adopted principles, but many, after the danger seemed to be oyer, relaxed to their old worldliness.

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

Several other earthquakes have been observed, though none so violent as this. They seemed to occur every three or four years, and invariably appeared to approach from the southwest. Joshua Dannagan stated that he witnessed one, about the year 183), strike a forest. For a moment the leaves seemed to wilt as under a strong heat, but soon re- sumed their original appearance. The same authority is given for the statement that they most frequently came at night, and were always accompanied by a low moaning noise.

NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

The pioneer method of navigating the Mississippi was by keel-boats, flat boats, mackinaw boats or batteaux, and Indian canoes. The keel boats were used for conveying merchandise up the rivers to the various trading points, and returned laden with peltries, honey, and beeswax. The mackinaw boats were used from the mountains and up river ports, down stream, but were never used against the current. Flat boats were used in floating the stoek and produce of the farmers to the new Orleans market, and they, like the mackinaw boats, were sold or left when the cargo was disposed of. The business of running flat boats to New Orleans was dangerous and precarious. The distance was great and accidents and casualties numerous. Perhaps fully one-third of all the boats that started from Illinois on the trip were wrecked, or lost in some way, before reaching their destination.

The expedition of Lewis and Clark to discover the sources of the Missouri river, which reached St. Louis in December, 1803, passed the winter at the mouth of Wood river. The party consisted of nine young men, Kentuckiaus, fourteen volunteers from the United States army, two French water- men, an interpreter and hunter, and a black servant of Col. Clark's. In addition a corporal and six soldiers, and nine watermen were engaged to accompany the expedition as far as the Mandan nation, this side of which attacks were ex- pected from hostile Indians. The transports consisted of one keel boat, fifty-five feet long, carrying one large square sail and twenty-two oars, and two pirogues, one of six and the other of seven oars. The expedition left its encamp- ment at four o'clock in the afternoon of the 14th of May, 1804, and began the ascent of the Missouri, the first night camping four miles above its mouth.

The first steamboat which ascended the Mississippi, above the mouth of the Ohio, was the Gien. Pike, commanded by C'ap- tain Jacob Reid, which landed in St. Louis, at the foot of Market street, on the 2d of August, 1817. The next was the Constitution which arrived on the second of the following October. The first steamboat to enter the Missouri river was the Independence, which left St. Louis on the 15th of May, 1819. In the spring of 1819 Col James Johnson, of Kentucky, with three steamboats, loaded with United States soldiers and army supplies, landed at the farm of Isom Gillham, just below the mouth of the Missouri river. He had a contract with the government to transport soldiers and supplies to St. Peters (now St. Paul) on the Mississippi and to Council Bluffs on the Missouri. He had little diffi- culty in going up the Mississippi, but in his attempt to

ascend the Missouri he found trouble. The river was low, no pilot was acquainted with the channel, and after three weeks of toil St. Charles, only twenty miles above the mouth, was the farthest point reached. The expedition was given up, and Col Johnson returned to Mr. Gillham's, where the steamboats lay in state, exciting the admiration of all visitors. People came from the surrounding country for many miles expressly to see these boats. Large warehouses were built on Mr. Gillham's farm, in which the provisions were stored, and bere also were the soldiers quartered. After a time, a number of keel boats, of light draft, were purchased, and in these the provisions and soldiers were carried to Council Bluffs.

CHAPTER VIII.

EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION.

HE Western States of the Union contain a large proportion of naturalized citizens and their descendants. The inexhaustible richness of the lands along the rivers of the West had been heralded in Europe even before the beginning of the present century. The first foreigners seeking a home on the banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, were a number of French colonists arriving here within the first half of the 18th century, settling near the missionary depots at Kaskaskia and Cahokia. Among these first arrivals we find several Swiss and a few Germans from Alsace-Judy Dumoulin, Engel, Schoenberger and others. The Judys, natives of Switzerland, were among the first permanent settlers of this county, and their descendants are to this day well known citizens of the county. Traces of French efforts at colonization in this county are found at the present site of Alton where Jean Baptiste Cardinal had built a cabin probably as early as 1785 (Madison County Gazetteer.) A number of land elaims were located along the Mississippi River from the mouth of Wood River down towards Venice, by French colonists, but very few of whom seem to have improved them. Nicholas Jarrot, a French- man of distinction, is found among the early settlers in Madison county ; his home, however, was never permanently located there. The records of the county of 1815 contain a list of names of men subject to road labor, and among them but very few foreign names are met. The few Euro- peans who had found their way to Madison county before or during the first decade of its organization, made no effort to have colonies or settlements of their own, such as arc found in St. Clair and Randolph counties or elsewhere. The Judy family mentioned above, had become thoroughly Americanized before they settled in the county. Even the orthography of their family name-Tschudy-a name so well known in their native Switzerland, had been lost sight of and

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

changed into " Judy" before the commencement of this cen- tury. The name appears in the records of St. Clair county of 1793. Jacob Judy and Samuel Judy presented or filed their claims for land grants, 200 acres each, one as an equal part of a Virginia Improvement Right and the other of a " Cahokia head" right on the 11th November, 1798. Among the enrolled militia of St. Clair county in actual ser- vice of the United States in 1783 and 1790, we find Samuel Judy and Jacob Judy, jr. They received each a land grant of 100 acres, a so-called militia right, which they afterwards located in sections 32 and 33, T. 4-8, Madison county, together with two other militia rights bought of Louis Bibaud and Barie La Flamme. In 1799, at an election held at Cahokia "to vote for a representative for to be sent to the General Assembly of the territory, Jacob and Samuel Judy voted for Shadrach Bond, who defeated his opponent, Isaac Darneille by a vote of 113 against 72. Voting was done viva voce, and the well-preserved tally sheet of said election is on file in the Clerk's office at Belleville.

George Barnsback, another foreign-born pioneer of Madi- son county, is made the subject of the following sketch by IIon. Gustav Koerner, of Belleville, in his work "The German Element :"

"One of the first German settlers in Madison county, if not the first, was George Berensbach-Barnsback. He was the son of a highly respected family at Osterrode, and had received a thorough education. An employee of a com- mercial house, he gave up his position without the consent of his parents and embarked for America in 1797. He landed in Philadelphia, a lad of sixteen years. He soon strayed over to Kentucky and traditon has him serving a season as overseer of a plantation. We doubt it, because of his youth. After a stay of two years, he became home- siek and embarked for Hamburg and was shipwrecked at Dover, barely saving his life. His reception at home was most cordial, the fatted calf was slaughtered in honor of his return. However he had breathed the air of America, and would not remain in Europe. In 1802 he returned to Kentucky, rented a plantation and erected a distillery. But Kentucky was too small for him. He brought his family to Illinois to what is now Madison county. Here he devoted himself to farming, and a number one farmer he was. In the war of 1812, he took service with other volunteers to protect the settlements against the Indians, the allies of the English. and remained in the field for fully two years. In 1825 he went to Germany to collect an estate to which he had fallen heir. Returning he resolved to go to Missouri, where he bought a large plantation in St. François county. The system of slavery disgusted him most thoroughly and in 1830 we find him back in Madison county. He was now nearly 50 years of age, and wanting rest, he devoted himself with zeal and success to agriculture, and left at the time of his death one of the best and most beautiful farms in the country. He was a tall man of powerful buikl with features betraying energy, and main- tained an imposing appearance to his end. Il · participated with interest in the management of public affairs, without secking personal gains, filled various offices, often against

his wish, and became also to his dislike, a member of the legislature in 1846. The salary which he drew for those services was bestowed to his county for the benefit of the poor. Ile was very accurate and insisted that obligations to him were strictly fulfilled, but was just as conscientious in his dealings with others. It is said that he never charged more than one half of the legal rates of interest on moneys due him. This explains the fact that when he died May 25, 1869, at the age of 87 years, he did not leave great wealth, but with it he left to his descendants the grand legacy of an incorruptible and excellent man.

After his second trip to Europe, several of his kinsmen- nephews-accompanied or followed him. All settled in the vicinity of their uncle, and one of them, Julius L. Barnsback, had become a Justice of the Peace, and a man of much importance and influence in the county. He removed to Edwardsville, where he engaged in commercial business with marked success. Sickness however, hefell him and took him from the large circle of an interesting family and numerous friends before he had reached a great age."

George Barnsback was a member of the first Board of County Commissioners in 1819, together with Samuel Judy and William Jones.

Julius L. Barnsback is frequently mentioned by Dr. H. C. Gerke, Joseph Suppiger and Solomon Koepfli in their publications-1831 to 1833 as a friend and adviser. He kindly volunteered to assist them in the selection of lands, and acted as interpreter whenever the " Book-English " of his new friends gave out. Barnsback seems to have enjoyed their surprise at unexpected sights, which of course were of constant occurrence, for life in the cities of Europe, differ so materially from life in the forests on the frontier. Koepfli complains at times of the sarcastic yet humorous remarks of Barnsback, made in German, in the presence of Americans and in regard to their appearance or surroundings, for, says Koepfli, we had to burst out in laughter and then could not explain, at what we had to laugh. Barnsback, who had done the mischief, would sit there, without the sign of a smile on his lips, sober as a judge, chuckling inwardly over our discomfiture ; yet he was so universally kind and amiable that our anger was but momentary. George Barnsback's name is not mentioned by the authors named above. He had probably not yet returned from Missouri. Julius L. Barns- back was the first German ever naturalized in the courts of this county, years after he had officiated as justice of the peace. A few Canadians had been naturalized in 1816 and 1817, as stated in the chapter on Civil History, but their names have disappeared from the rolls of the residents of the county. The Barnsbacks have long since become as thoroughly Americanized as their family name of Berensbach had been anglieized into Barnsback. Their descendants are numer- ous, and several of them have been called to prominent po- litical positions in the county. Speaking of politics, it should be stated, that the most numerous branch of the Barns- backs are identified at present with the Republican party and only a few are found in Democratie ranks, but all are held in high regard by all their fellow citizens. The Barnsbacks are North Germans, and the characteristic features of that

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY, ILLINOIS.

race are fairly represented in the family, to wit : self-reliance, firmness of mind and sagacity in judgment. Another fea- ture of the North German is his immense will power, and incredible power of endurance. Besides it might be said, that the North Germans are rather reserved, or as they ex- press it buttoned up to their throats. The German from the South of Germany is decidedly more amiable, though inclined to over estimate his powers of intellect ; " he knows it all, " as the saying is " He is sanguine to a fault, laughs at difficulties, which his brother German front the North contemplates with sagacity, meets with firm- ness, and overcomes with certainty, in nine cases out of ten, just as often as his brother from the south gets floored. The South German carries his heart on his tongue, and the north German his tongue in his brain. Though parts of one and the same nation, they differ more widely from one another than from foreign nations.

The Swiss have some of the characteristic features of the north as well as of the south German. His mountain home, surrounding him with many dangers, has made him cautious and vigilant besides. The Swiss are sometimes called the Yankces of Europe, because of their calculating shrewdness and active energy, as well as because of their familiarity, with self-government and popular sovereignty. The Swiss are largely represented in the foreign born pop- ulation of our county, and were the first European colonists coming in great numbers to this county. The first arrival took place in 1831. The Suppigers and Koepflis, together with others, who followed them, are closely identified with the township bearing the Latin name of Switzerland- HELVETIA-the subject of their settlement is treated and commeuted on in the township sketch. Joseph Suppiger, and Solomon Koepfli were the first from the settlement to apply for and obtain letters of naturalization. Jacob Eggen, of Highland, speaks of this settlement in his town- ship sketch of 1876 as follows: Both families-Koepfli and Suppiger, came with the intention of making this a per- manent home. They found in James Reynolds, then justice of the peace in the district, an excellent and most dis- interested adviser. He had nothing in common with the indolent squatters and squirrel hunters, so frequently met with in 1830. True, he knew how to kill a deer as well as any one, but he was not a hunter only. He understood tanning and blacksmithing, could stock a plow or make a speech. Reynolds singled out Mr. Joseph Suppiger as the one best fitted to lead the colony, which was reinforced, during the spring fo 1833 by the arrival of Joseph Suppiger, and his brother Johann, together with their large families. 'Fscharner brothers and Jacob Weber of Glarus accompa- nied them. Joseph Suppiger, Sr., died within a few months of his arrival and was buried in Section 30-T. 4-5 ; his was the first funeral in the colony. In the autumn of 1833 a number of young men from the fatherland made their ap- pearance in the colony, among them Jacob Eggen, William Hagnaner and John R. Blattner, all of whom are still living in the midst of the colony. Blattner became famous for his many enterprises, commencing with working on a canal, then making shoes-his trade, then Nimroding, shooting deer, etc.

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History of Madison County, Illinois With biographical sketches, Part 26

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co. Number of Pages: 698

Author: Brink, W.R. & Co
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Edwardsville, Ill. : W. R. Brink & co.
Number of Pages: 698